69 Years, About Time to Turn It Upside Down

[box type=”shadow” ]“The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.” Denis Waitley[/box]Independence: The state of being independent, sovereignty, autonomy, liberty… freedom. As per the definition goes independence is expounded by these massive words. On 15th August 2015 India will be celebrating its 69th Independence Day. 68 years of freedom and here we are, battling for the most basic amenities. Division has always been the root cause for our downfall and it is prevalent be it history of the present scenario. We are divided so much within ourselves that we are completely blindfolded by the cloth of stereotyping. Being world’s biggest democracy we are still confided with the least of choices be it educationally, professionally or even personally. Censorship, stinginess and favouritism are the slow poison destroying the whole system. We need to ask one simple question to ourselves, are we really free?

We are supposedly ruling ourselves but are we actually satiated with the authorities? We have a little but no choice in that regard. We don’t have the requited resources to pursue what we want to do. Cut-throat competition leaves no room for the non-creamy layer to do anything but to be frustrated. One track education system is like a sickness for healthy creativity. We are much aware of the big elephant in front of us but are least bothered to discuss about it. Ranting on social media and liking the supposedly logical posts is what we are doing in the name of bringing a change. Why are we so ignorant? Is this the kind of country for which thousands of people lost their lives to make it free from the British? Or is it okay to be exploited by the people of our own colour? Do we want our predecessors to breathe in this nation whose capital is one the most polluted city in the world? From our first to the last breath we do what we are supposed to do or made to do and never what we want to do, how are we independent?

Be it the AIB roast, Deepika Padukone’s “My Choice” video, the film P.K or Bajrangi Bhaijaan, there are people getting offended on every next thing they can find out. There is no respect for anyone else’s perspective. And that is only the entertainment sector, students are never allowed to explore their creativity, a number of ideas are crushed or thrown away by the people who are in power. No freedom of choice, thoughts, expression or opinions. What good is this autonomy? We talk about feminism where women are getting raped every single day. The lack of sensibility in our literature, media and governance is way more scrutinising than the colonial rule. We welcome fiction more than facts and are very happy living in our own little boxes. This is unacceptable.

We need to break these shackles and liberate our minds. The darkness of nonsense which encompasses our thought process has to go away. We don’t need someone else to clean our own houses, we are capable enough to do it ourselves. Compassion and humanity are they key to upliftment of not only ourselves but the whole environment around us. Encourage the positive, correct the wrong, criticise the negative but never completely scrape off any idea. We don’t need to stay hungry and foolish anymore, stop listening to others and start listening to your own self. Believe in what you think, you can never be wrong. It’s okay to be different, it took one man to transform the nation into a movement, we don’t need another Gandhi, we just need to follow the yardstick.

This independence day, become free, feel the excitement of listening to your own self, explore the beautiful world inside your head. Turn this nation of frustrated hypocrites into a country of united and sensible self believers. Channelize this anger into the positive energy. Don’t just fly kites; make your nation reach to those heights. There is no unity in diversity. Be united, come forward, take the charge and become not an Indian but India.